Chapter 24: 8-1. The Purple Phoenix and the Vampire Saintess.
***
It was morning, and Dennis’s class had already begun. The man with the dark knight’s helmet, who would usually always be present, was nowhere to be seen.
“Licht, isn’t he here?” The Glass Knight asked the red-haired magician.
“Huh..? You’re right, Kai. Haven’t you seen Helmet?” “He ran off somewhere at dawn, so I thought he left something in the classroom…” Kainel frowned, expressing his unease. Licht wasn’t the type to disappear without a word.
“…Maybe he’ll come during Drake’s class?” “Where on earth did he go? Helmet…” Ariel looked around for Licht, but the only person in the classroom wearing a knight’s helmet now was Mardol.
“…This is strange.” Licht’s sudden absence. The white-haired girl intuitively noticed something. Her wolf ears twitched slightly inside her helmet.
***
The Hero Church. To explain it briefly, it’s a cult that still believes in the four heroes summoned in the past.
Why a cult? Because those bastards are all corrupted now and have become Demon Kings.
As expected, the namer has a chuunibyou. If that’s the case, they should at least change the name to the Demon King Church.
Because of this, there was a great war, and it’s frequently mentioned even in <Knight Heart> and <Black Heart>.
‘It was the current Ten Swords who ended the war.’
Nex and I left the academy and stopped at a certain place.
Just like I saw in the game, a huge rock slightly touching the school’s barrier, acting like a foreign object.
It’s a suspicious place no matter who looks at it. I wondered if they had cast a perception-inhibiting spell on it. I thought as I looked at the magic circle drawn on the rock.
“It’s here.” It’s helpful that my constitution makes me resistant to magic at times like this.
“There’s nothing here? All there is is a big rock… Huh?” “We have to break this rock.” I knocked on the house-sized rock. Originally, this part was supposed to fly off and reveal stairs.
“It’s real. When you touch it, junior, something strange appears.” The Sunset Rendezvous. Like the saying “It’s darkest under the lamp,” it’s an instance dungeon hidden right under the basement.
There were traces of the Hero Church, a long line of explanations about them, their symbol of four holy swords, and even pieces of white believer’s clothing came out.
In addition, the name is also ‘Rendezvous.’ If someone disappeared from the academy overnight, this is the most likely place.
“Should we break this? Or melt it with fire?” “I’ll do it.” The spirit is still weak to have physical strength. No matter how powerful the phoenix is, it’s not an adult yet.
“Chirp..” Besides, maybe because of his worries for Charitines, he seems to have lost a lot of energy. It might be possible normally, but not now.
“I end up using everything I’ve learned.” I drew my sword. There are cracks here and there, and it makes a scratching sound when it comes out of the scabbard. This should be fine. I can probably use Vacuum Slash once or twice more.
‘Let’s use Inverse Scale Thrust now.’ I found the surest method and immediately adjusted my posture towards the target. The ground was scratched by my foot.
Drake Style Second Form. Among the three basic swordsmanship movements of thrusting, slashing, and deflecting, this is the one remaining gap.
A technique of consecutive attacks that pierce the dragon’s weak point. The second strategy created to easily pierce even the hardest parts.
Every object has a weakness.
I had to focus on speed. The sensation in my fingertips became sensitive. I held my breath for a moment.
If you touch the inverse scale, the dragon will become enraged and try to bite the attacker to death, so the basic principle of this sword technique is to thrust the sword into the gap before that.
I should be able to easily break a rock. Originally, it even penetrates the hard scales of a dragon, digging into the gaps.
“Step back.” “…Alright, junior.” I said calmly to Nex. I can’t make mana flow through my body. I have to push through with my physical body, so I need to concentrate as much as possible.
─Clang! I did my best to protect the Nameless Saintess. I can’t let it go to waste here.
The sound of metal clashing against stone rang out. The rock crumbled with a thud. Time is of the essence. I have to cut it down even faster.
─Clang! A little faster.
Mixing it with Shadow Slash, I deflected the flying rock fragments outwards as much as possible with Wing Deflect. I poured in consecutive attacks. I can’t worry about the sword’s durability right now.
“Junior, what kind of swordsmanship is this?! It’s not even explosion magic!” Just a little more.
I’m sick and tired of seeing someone get a bad ending.
─Crack! Crack! Crack!! Like an excavator digging into the ground, the rock began to break apart and crumble. The tearing sound of iron and stone vibrated the ground like the noise of a construction site.
“…It’s done.” I caught my breath a little at the tingling sensation in my hand. It’s tough, but doable. In my training with Master, I did this with even bigger things, even staying up for nights on end.
“Wow.. all this..? Junior, you really are Drake-nim’s disciple, huh?” “Have you been living a lie?”
“Yeah, honestly, there are a lot of people who impersonate him.” It hadn’t even been a few minutes. I had split the rock, which had been standing majestically like a cornerstone, and sent it flying to one side. I’ll have to catch a Demon King later, but this is nothing.
What appeared were stairs giving off an eerie atmosphere.
As if telling me with its presence that it was a place I shouldn’t enter, it even exuded a chill that gave me goosebumps.
“…But how did you know this if you’re not even the Sage’s disciple? Junior?” “It’s suspicious. Who would put a rock like this in the flat academy in the first place?” “Is that so..” Did I manage to get away with it? No, actually, I think he saw through me. There’s no way Nex wouldn’t notice. His purple eyes flickered between the stairs and me a few times, expressing his suspicion.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. This is the place, right?” “Yes. It is.” But he seemed to have put aside his doubts. A serious expression with firm resolve flew towards me.
‘He believes me even though he knows it’s a lie.’ I can’t call anyone because I don’t know what might come out from inside, and it would be too late to wait for the guards.
‘Status window.. I guess there’s a chance since it’s not showing up now.’ The percentage that had been going down since morning was 47%, now it’s not visible in front of my eyes. This probably means this is a fork in the road. There was no more time to delay.
“I think the Ten Greats will come looking for us even if we run into trouble.” “There’s no time to worry. Let’s go down quickly.” “Alright, senior.” The two men jumped down into the pitch-black basement where not a single ray of sunlight reached.
The party of a knight and a spirit summoner entered the instance dungeon.
“It’s creepy, junior.” “It’s better because we have the phoenix.” “Chirp.”
Even in the darkness, the purple flame flickered and shone like a lamp. Thanks to it, I could vaguely see ahead.
In the game, lighting magic like Merak’s was essential for dungeon raids…. I couldn’t do that now, could I?
I remembered what happened the day before yesterday. I knew I could use magic if a medium or someone else acted as a circuit for me, but why did I learn that through the Crown Prince route?
My head throbbed. How nice would it be if the saintess route was confirmed and her name appeared on the status window? There are still so many things I don’t know.
This dungeon is the same, the structure is a bit different from what I know.
“The path is too rough.” “It certainly seems that way.”
The passage continued like an anthill, winding and twisting. Anyway, the path ahead would be a maze that we had to get through.
Originally, after going round and round, we would come out to a straight path, and at the end of the open space, there would be the boss room.
‘The starting structure is more vicious than in the original.’
I fell into thought. Unlike in my previous life, this time, people’s lives were at stake. I had to find a way, somehow.
Ah, there’s that method.
“Senior Nex.” “Yes, junior Licht?”
Even if it’s a game, this world is reality. I had forgotten that fact for a moment.
Structures aren’t invincible.
Originally, it would be impossible to destroy the dungeon structure itself, but it would be different here.
“Let’s go through the wall.” “…What?” “There’s no time. Anyway, it’s a maze up ahead. Just like the path we’ve taken so far.”